Beyoncé fans boosted Houston's hotel occupancy

By the numbers: Hotels in Houston had an occupancy rate of 67.5% on Sept. 23 and 24 when Beyoncé performed at NRG.

• Revenue for the weekend hit $18.2 million, up more than 45% compared to the same weekend in 2022.

Zoom in: Hotels in the Medical Center/NRG area had an occupancy of 81.3% for those two nights. The occupancy rate on Saturday was 10 points higher than on Sunday, and hotels had an average daily rate of $241 on Saturday — one of the highest nightly rates this year.

• Revenues in that area hit $2.5 million, an increase of 182% over the comparable weekend in 2022.

In contrast: When Taylor Swift was in town in April for her Eras megatour, NRG hotels had a 91% occupancy rate and cost an average of $215 per night.

The intrigue: 52% of the visitors to NRG for Beyoncé's concert that weekend were from outside the Houston area, largely hailing from San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Beaumont, according to data from Near, a location-based intelligence platform.

The bottom line: It's Beyoncé's world, and we're just living in it.